The present invention relates to an optical reader comprising a casing which has a coloration depending on at least one control signal.
An optical reader is known to comprise a casing consisting of at least two portions coupled together by usual fixing means, and of which a first portion defines the main reader body and the second portion defines a closure element for that part of said body supporting at least the reader optical members and possibly also those electrical and electronic members which enable it to operate.
Readers of the aforesaid type find considerable use in many sectors of industry and commerce. Readers of various types are used to satisfy the most diverse requirements, for example for sorting goods, for handling warehouse products, and for retail and wholesale sales (in shops or supermarkets).
Specific readers therefore have to be manufactured having not only different functional characteristics but also an appearance suitable for the function for which they are proposed. There is therefore a requirement for readers the characteristic appearance of which is different for different uses and which also defines their particular type of use.
An object of this invention is therefore to provide optical readers having different appearances for the different uses for which they are provided, and possibly for the different environments in which they are used.
A further object is to provide optical readers in which these different appearances are achieved in a simple manner without a substantial increase in the reader production and storage costs and times.
These and further objects which will be apparent to the expert of the art are attained by a reader in accordance with the accompanying claims.
According to the invention, that appearance feature which defines each reader on the basis of its use is the colour present in at least one portion of its casing. Different colours define optical code readers with different functional characteristics or for different types of use. In other words, different colours distinguish optical code readers which differ in their type of use but which form part of the same product line. For example, those readers for particular shops in which products carrying a trademark of a predefined colour are sold will be defined by a colour identical to that of that trademark. Again, those readers for use in an environment decorated with particular colours will have a colour which matches those colour decorations. Again, optical code readers for articles of a particular class of goods will have a different colour from that of readers which are similar but are used for reading the codes on articles of a different class of goods.
Normally the requirement to diversify the outer appearance of the reader results in complication of the manufacturing process. In this respect, the production chain has to be differentiated by producing the same type of xe2x80x9ccorexe2x80x9d for the reader but a plurality of differently coloured outer xe2x80x9ccasingsxe2x80x9d. This complication results in a considerable increase in production and storage costs and times.